Widening the recruitment net

Lacking an entrenched tradition in winter sports, China is scouting summer sport athletes in the lead up to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and Zhangjiakou.

Officials said they are seeking athletes from track and field, Chinese martial arts, roller skating, gymnastics and basketball who want to make the transition to winter sports.

Ren Hongguo, secretary general of the Chinese delegation at the recent Asian Winter Games in Sapporo, Japan, said the country aims to compete in all seven sports and over 90 percent of 102 medal events at the 2022 Olympics.

To reach that goal, China has built national teams in bobsled, luge, skeleton, snowboard and ski jumping, raising the number of national winter sports teams to 22.

"We are searching for talent all over the country," said Ren. "We are looking beyond the northeastern provinces already known for winter and snow sports, and scouting talented young athletes in other regions and other sports."

The 20-strong national skeleton team, selected from 121 applicants in 2015, includes former basketball players, cyclists and track and field athletes.

Geng Wenqiang, who made the move to skeleton from athletics in 2015, won a bronze medal in an international skeleton event in Switzerland later that year. And Ren provided an example of how a sprinter might take up bobsledding.

"US sprinter Lauryn Williams, who won gold at the 2012 London Olympics, won a bobsled silver at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. She benefited from her explosive power as a sprinter," Ren said.

"In the two-man bobsled, behind the steerer is the pusher, who gives the sled the quick start. An sprinter, known for power and explosiveness, can do the job."

Ren defended China's decision to recruit summer athletes to winter sports and said it is not cutting corners, citing the more than 90 international athletes who have competed in both the summer and winter Olympics.

(China Daily 03/05/2017 page11)